Climate Change – Adaptation and Mitigation

Challenges

Climate change adds a new dimension to the debate on sustainable development. The core challenge of climate change is its global dimension and its serious impacts that have the potential to trigger social and economic crises. Water supply is jeopardized, food production is expected to decline, warming intensifies health risks, biodiversity and corresponding ecosystem services are threatened. The economic potential of many countries is adversely affected which may increase environmental migration.

The complexity of required action in the policy and regulatory domain, private sector and civil society is yet another challenge. GFA’s vision is to support its institutional and private clients worldwide in adapting to the unavoidable effects of climate change on the one hand, and in pursuing sustainable, climate neutral development paths on the other.


GFA Services

Adaptation    
GFA’s core competences perfectly correspond to the adaptation challenges lying ahead. Our strongholds are in the fields of agriculture and rural development, forestry and natural resource management. Today, the company’s portfolio incorporates water supply and wastewater, health and governance. Special technical experience in these sectors is required for designing and implementing effective climate change adaptation strategies.

In addition, a deep understanding and knowledge of the resources, processes and structures in the countries concerned is a precondition for the development of innovative tools to assess vulnerabilities and economic effects of climate change. GFA’s services include project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as special studies on climate change adaptation in our core fields of business.

Mitigation    
While GFA Consulting Group combines long-standing technical competence with sector experience in natural resource management as well as private and public sector development, its subsidiary GFA ENVEST with its carbon-related service portfolio specializes in climate policy, carbon markets and climate project development under the regulations of the Kyoto Protocol. This allows GFA to offer comprehensive climate-related package solutions to clients worldwide.

Together, GFA offers carbon advisory services and climate project development in combination with technical assistance. Our assistance aims at reducing green house gas emissions while we focus on the forestry and renewable energy sectors. GFA’s services in the forestry sector incorporate the development and implementation of strategies and projects for forest conservation, sustainable forest management, afforestation and reforestation. These efforts result in reduced greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity protection and improved living conditions of impoverished strata of the rural population. GFA experts prepare partners for national and international carbon markets, and test REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) under different framework conditions. In the energy sector, GFA supports public agencies and private companies to improve energy efficiency and to use renewable energy. We assist financial institutions in establishing new energy and carbon-related financing concepts as a profitable business segment.

Corporate Environmental Policy    
GFA headquarters supports the protection of the climate and the environment by using energy from renewable sources and FSC certified paper from responsibly managed forests. GFA subsidizes the use of public transport by staff members and we encourage train transport instead of flights. Customers are offered the option to offset carbon emissions caused by air travel. GFA’s vision is to further reduce the company’s carbon footprint as part of our corporate social and environmental policy.